Ice Breakers: Animal Nicknames

This works best with intermediate to advanced kids (not so much english for the advanced ones)

Before class make up a sheet of paper with all of the students names on it with a blank line next to each name. Include your own name also. Hand these out to the students in class. Then tell them to look carefully at each of their other students. Tell them that their job is to think of what kind of animal that each of the students resemble and why. Make sure to tell the students to be very specific in their types of animals. Don't let them get away with bird or dog. It is good to have a foeighn language English dictionary on hand for this game/exercise. After you have given them an oppertunity to fill in the blanks, write each persons name on the board. Then ask each member of the class for what they thought about this specific person. Eventually, you will have a list for each student. Then the class votes on the name they like best for that student.

This game had some of my students holding their sides in laughter and also allowed the students to feel much more comfortable with one another. Try to draw out of them what characteristics made them choose certain animals.

Name: Gavin Purcell
Email: [email protected]
Location: Seoul, Korea